Investigating the Effects of Shape and Size of Dimer Gold Nanoparticles on the Efficiency of CIGS Solar Cells

Abstract Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) have significant potential to enhance solar cell efficiency by increasing light scattering within the solar cells through Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR). This research investigates the effects of the shape and size of dimer gold nanoparticles positioned within the active layers of solar cells. Computational simulations using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method were employed to analyze various nanoparticle shapes, including spherical, cubic, cylindrical, and triangular prism, with sizes ranging from 40 nm to 60 nm. The results indicate that bare solar cells’ short-circuit current density (J sc ) is 19.6 mA/cm 2 . After embedding the nanoparticles within the active layers, the highest J sc was observed with cylindrical nanoparticles of 60 nm size, achieving 30.92 mA/cm 2 . Cylindrical nanoparticles exhibited the highest J sc , followed by cubic, spherical, and triangular prism shapes. This increase is attributed to the near-field distribution and scattering of the nanoparticles, which extends the light path within the active layer. This research demonstrates that cylindrical dimer nanoparticles can significantly enhance the J sc of CIGS solar cells.